Sir, - In a recent letter Joe Dunne referred to the Pearse Street Sorting Office, a veritable dungeon, a disused distillery without a window and awful ventilation.
The sorters were allowed to sit down for a quarter of an hour every hour and permission to go to the toilet had to be sought from the supervisor. A few minutes delay in relieving oneself incurred a visit from the supervisor as to the cause.
A transfer to a district delivery office was no improvement, especially in James's Street, where the supervisor was known as "Golly" due to his black curley hair he had the unwelcome habit of cycling around a postman's route to ensure that he was not smoking or ally dallying".
And each and every postman and to satisfy "Golly" Leonard's to clean, well pressed uniform, shining shoes, cap badge and number badge.
In those days the postman clocked in at 6.30 a.m., sorted his route, went on delivery and finished about 9 a.m. He (no females) went home and returned at 2.30 a.m., for overseas mail delivery and emptied pillar boxes.
By comparison, the latter day postal worker is employed in state of the art office accommodation and hassle free deliveries deserving from them boundless gratitude. Yours, etc., Finglas, Dublin 11.